Category Archives: Work updates

Newz

Someone on Twitter (maybe Joss Whedon – remember him?) once wrote, “I love it when my friends go internet-silent for a while, then suddenly reappear with some new project just completed.” Well, I have no major accomplishments to reveal (yet…), but here are a couple of news items from the world of Broken Bow.

  • I have essays coming out in two books this year. The first is called Wild Things and Castles in the Sky: A Guide to Choosing the Best Books for Children. I contributed an essay on YA fiction. The second is called Movies from the Mountaintop: 100+ Films that Express God, Explore Faith and Enlighten Church. The editor of this book stumbled across my review of Spotlight on Film Fisher and asked if he could include it.
  • The third annual Psalm Tap Music Colloquium meets in Monroe, Louisiana, this June. Swing by if you can. As always, it is free.

News from a Man

For manifold reasons, I’ve decided to start a newsletter. I’m calling it Time’s Corner, after a phrase the Green Lady says to Ransom in Perelandra.

Do not wonder, O Piebald Man, that your world should have been chosen for time’s corner. You live looking out always on heaven itself, and as if this were not enough Maledil takes you all thither in the end. You are favoured beyond all worlds.

[Quote cribbed from here]

What the Green Lady is refering to is the time and place at which all of reality bends: the death of Christ on a cross in Jerusalem. I don’t pretend that this newsletter will be anywhere near as significant as that Event of Events, of course. But I do want the things I write about here to direct the attention of whoever reads them to that most crucial point. After Jesus died, rose, and ascended, nothing was the same, and that includes writing, art, and email newsletters. We’re still figuring out its ramifications. Consider this another teeny push in that direction.

Here’s the plan. On Mondays, I’ll send out a mid-length essay about writing, literature, or art. At the end of the Monday issue, I’ll ask my readers a question, like, “What’s a non-biblical quote or poem that never fails to encourage you?” On Thursdays, I’ll send out my favorite responses to the question, along with some comments.

If that sounds like a jolly old time to you, sign up here.

Homo docens

Why, you ask, have you been posting pictures instead of that sweet, sweet written content I patronize this site for? Aren’t you a writer? Hey, man, I reply, I have been writing, just not for this venue. Chill.

The real reason is that I’ve been too busy teaching to think about the things I usually blog about. Since my place of employment has, like every high school in the country, gone virtual, I’ve been using Youtube to teach Latin.

Watch this video to learn to use the optative subjunctive, since I know you have wishes you can only express in Latin.

You can watch more Latin vids here, if you wish. Meanwhile, all I can say is, “Utinam iterum in schola doceam!”

To film editors: Do your time

I contributed another article to the Frame.io blog. This one’s about the pros and cons of working remotely, specifically for those who aim to edit feature films or big TV shows. The uncool bottom line is that aspiring editors have to do their time in one of the Big Three production hubs (LA, NYC, London) before they can even think about working from some remote location where the traffic is swift and the views are gorgeous.

My favorite thing about this article is the range of editors who put in their two cents. We had everyone from Chris Frith (who worked on Mission: Impossible—Fallout) to Paul Machliss (Edgar Wright’s go-to editor) to Doug Pray (co-editor and writer on HBO’s The Defiant Ones). One of Doug’s main reasons was the “energy of the edit suite.” Here’s how he describes it:

The shared laughter over a particular edit, the arguments over structure, the process of being in a room and staring down a ton of index cards, the emotional camaraderie between editor and director, or fellow editors—these are highly valuable. And the most important thing of all: watching edits with others in the room with you. This is usually the best way for me to really know if an edit is working or not, because I’m somehow able to see the cut through their perspective. When I’m alone, I can get halfway there, but nothing replaces an audience (or having a director, producer, fellow editor, neighbor, or whoever, in there with me).

Read all of it on the Frame.io blog.